The puja that heralds autumn festivities in Calcutta’s calendar has taken a hit.
Some organisers have cancelled Thursday’s Vishwakarma Puja, while the ones going ahead with the puja have planned to keep the affairs low key, bereft of the pomp of previous years.
Lack of cash is the main reason but concerns about large gatherings amid the Covid pandemic have also made some organisers scrap the usual mutton-rice feast and only stick to the rituals.
Arjun Singh, a real estate developer, used to organise a feast for 600 people on the occasion of Vishwakarma Puja at his office. His friends, business competitors and many others would be invited to the feast. This year only his employees and the masons who work for him have been invited.
“Real estate sales have slumped badly. I had paid my employees over the past six months though my income was very low. How could I have organised Vishwakarma Puja on the same scale as previous years?” Singh asked.
Harideb Sarkar, who runs a unit that manufactures iron grilles and wrought iron beds, has not invited anyone other than his employees and their families to the puja at his factory. “Orders from new flats have reduced significantly and it is no longer possible to spend lavishly on puja,” he said.
With businesses reeling under the slump that set in with the Covid pandemic, cutting costs has become an essential survival tactic.
For Vishwakarma Pujas organised by transport unions, subscription rates have been reduced as both employees and owners are taking less money back home, transport workers said.
The union of autorickshaws that ply between Garia and Gariahat is known for organising a fairly big Vishwakarma Puja. Till last year, over 1,600 people used to be fed over two days on the occasion.
On the puja day, bhog would be distributed. The second day was reserved for a “non-veg feast”. This year the second day’s feast has been cancelled. “An autorickshaw driver used to take home
Rs 500 daily. That has now come down to Rs 200. The income of vehicle owners has dipped, too,” said Debraj Ghosh, a union leader.
The union has lowered the subscription from Rs 101 to Rs 51 for auto owners and from Rs 31 to Rs 21 for drivers.
Indologist Nrisinghaprasad Bhaduri said no instance of the puja of Lord Vishwakarma could be found in the Vedas or the Puranas. The festival seems a more recent phenomenon, which followed the advent of industries set up by the British. “Vishwakarma Puja is more or less organised on September 17. This practice of organising the puja on a particular date of the calendar the British follows creates a suspicion that the occasion was aimed at granting masons, carpenters and other workers a day of celebration,” he said.
Vishwakarma Puja has a social aspect as well. It is one festival where employers never shy away from funding a festivity to be enjoyed mostly by employees. “The employer comes for the puja, stays with employees for some time and then leaves. The employees immerse themselves in the freedom of the carnival. The employer does not stay for long but will never refuse to fund. This has been the culture of Vishwakarma Puja over the years,” Bhaduri said.
The decline of industry in Bengal came as a big blow to Viswakarma, the god of craftsmen.
Artisans at Kumartuli have received orders for small idols from many of their old customers who bought taller idols in previous years. Gouranga Pal could sell seven large idols, which are 9ft tall, till Wednesday evening, a pale figure compared with last year when he sold as many as 20 such idols.
Realtor Vivek Ruia said more than the money, he was worried about a large assembly on his premises. Usually, he has around 250 guests but not this time. From a gala at a building site, it is now a small ritual inside an office.